Partner
by heartlandiansoisle
Summary: Paint isn't feeling too good and Jack is worried. No warnings or rating. One-shot.


Ever since Jack Bartlett had let his trusted partner, the old paint horse unimaginatively named as Paint, retire, he had not stopped worrying about him. The gelding had developed arthritis at his old age and Jack's granddaughter, Amy Fleming, had tried to help him with his pain by using massages and remedies, but those things were no help with this unknown problem that had cast a shadow over Paint within these last few days.

"He's still not eating?" Amy asked when she brought her own horse, Spartan, inside the barn from the pen where she had exercised him for an hour. Jack was leaning against Paint's stall door, his eyes worryingly examining the old horse that stood in the corner, his head bowed down.

"No. Not even carrots. And he loves carrots", Jack knew this much.

"Maybe he just wants out? You know, he's used to being out so much that being stuck inside must be depressing for him", Amy made a guess and walked Spartan into his stall that was at the back of the barn.

"I've tried that, but it makes no difference", Jack told her, shrugging in defeat.

"I could try to look into mom's journals, see if she's ever come across with something like this", Amy offered. She couldn't stand to see her grandfather like this, let alone the horse that had been there for him for as long as she could remember.

"Thanks, Amy", Jack said and tried to form a smile.

"You're sure Scott gave him clean bill of health?" Amy checked before going.

"Yeah. Besides the arthritis, he seems to be in good shape for his age", Jack said. He had always taken care of Paint with enormous amount of love, exercised him as often as he could with cattle herding and ranch work, made sure his food was the best there was and letting him socialize with the other ranch horses at the field when it was his day off.

"That's weird", Amy hummed. "I'll be in the barn office if you need me", she said sympathetically and disappeared behind the saddle racks.

A minute later, Jack's ex-son-in-law and Amy's father, Tim Fleming, walked into the barn, holding the reins of his horse, Champ. They were supposed to do some cattle herding today, even if Jack wasn't feeling like it as he was so worried about Paint. He wanted to be there for the horse, but also knew there was only so much he could do when he had no idea what it was that bothered him.

"Hey, Jack. Ready to go?" Tim asked, watching the old cowboy moping against the stall door. "What's with the long face?"

"Paint", Jack swung himself up reluctantly. "He doesn't look too good."

"Neither do you, but I'm not worried", Tim jested. "Come on, old man, we gotta go. We're burning daylight."

"Okay, just give me a minute to saddle up the new horse", Jack said and went to get the saddle for his new horse that Amy had helped him to find months earlier. Tim stood in the doorway, scoffing.

"You still haven't named him?" Tim asked.

"No", Jack said stubbornly, knowing that it was because he was still not over the fact that he was no longer working with Paint. He always took his time with change and this wasn't one of the easiest changes he could face.

"You should learn from my mistakes", Tim said and watched Paint between the bars, "it's not good for the horse's self-esteem to be nameless." Tim's horse had only gotten his name few years ago when Tim had been struggling with a personal crisis that lead him to realize he didn't need to be young anymore and that he was good with what he already had - which was his loyal companion, Champ.

Tim then noticed how Paint's head went up and the horse turned his eyes to look at him. It was like he was curious all of a sudden or somehow woken up from a nap he was having just by the sound of his voice or the smell of his after-shave. Paint turned around in his stall and walked up to greet the man who then rewarded him with few scratches behind his ear.

"Don't know what you're worrying about", Tim spoke to Jack who was standing next to the blackboard, holding a saddle like he had just witnessed a miracle. "He seems fine to me. – This is so typical of you; someone's having an off day and immediately you have to go all Dr. Phil about it."

"Tim…" Jack said and the younger cowboy turned to look at him. "Something's different about him. He wasn't like that before."

"Oh yeah? Maybe it's me", Tim suggested, half-jokingly as he got another chance to boost his ego on Jack's expense.

"No, I don't think it's you…" Jack noticed and put the saddle down, studying the situation and Paint's behavior. "I think it's Champ."

Tim turned to look at his horse who was chewing his own bit and didn't look too worried about anything that was going around him. Paint on the other hand seemed to long for his company. He even whinnied lowly to greet Champ.

"You think so?" Tim asked.

"Well, it makes sense now that I think about it", Jack admitted. "They've worked together for so long that they must've formed a bond too. It's not just you and me on those fields every day, it's these two as well. They are partners too. – I don't know why I didn't think of that…" he almost cursed himself, even if he was relieved that the mystery was now solved.

"So he misses Champ?" Tim wondered. Jack nodded. "Huh. I guess I should bring him around more often then", he figured.

Jack felt like a huge weight would have been lifted off his shoulders. Paint still had that same sparkle in his eyes that he had always had as he saw his old palomino friend after being apart from him for weeks. It was another great example of the soul these animals possessed and a testament to the friendships they formed throughout their lives. Jack had worried that even if the horse was aware of his own physical pain, he still missed his job and Jack as an owner was being cruel - though practical - by preventing him to do what he loved. But now he learned that it wasn't the job that had made him so happy, it was the partnership that he shared with Champ.

And Jack could never take that away from him.


End file.
